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SALT LAKE CITY — Granger High School in Salt Lake County, Fremont High School in Weber County, and several schools in the Jordan School District will move to distance learning due to a prevalence of COVID-19 cases.
Jordan School District officials met Wednesday night and decided to move some schools online from Monday, Nov. 23 through Monday, Dec. 7, according to the district's Facebook page. Affected schools are Joel P. Jensen Middle School, Oquirrh Hills Middle School, Butterfield Canyon Elementary School and Foothills Elementary School.
Westvale Elementary School will move online for two days, Monday, Nov. 23 and Tuesday, Nov. 24. Students will return to in-person learning on Monday, Nov. 30.
Granger is expected to be moved to distance learning Wednesday, according to an announcement from Principal Dr. David Dunn. In-person instruction is expected to resume at Granger on Dec. 2; schools in similar situations typically close for at least two weeks.
The Salt Lake County Health Department informed administrators there are at least 15 cases at the school, which is above the threshold in the Utah Department of Health's education guidelines that recommends moving to distance learning.
Any students who have previously been instructed to quarantine should continue doing so; the school's announcement does not supersede any previous quarantine instructions, Dunn said.
Granger will be closed for two days for deep cleaning, and teachers will be working from the building after that, the announcement says.
All school-related activities or events will be postponed or canceled, as well, Dunn said.
"In the meantime, we strongly encourage our students and families to adhere to current countywide health orders and avoid large gatherings and wear a mask in public in circumstances where social distancing is not possible," he said. "If we fail to adhere to this guidance, we further put our extracurricular activities and in-person instruction in jeopardy. We appreciate your patience and support as we work to keep our students and staff safe in the midst of this pandemic."
Weber School District officials also announced on Wednesday that the Fremont, located in Plain City, will be transitioning to remote learning due to an increase in COVID-19 cases. According to the district, there are currently 15 or more individuals connected to the school have tested positive for COVID-19 within the past two weeks, and multiple classrooms have been affected.
Like Granger, Fremont students will transition on Nov. 19 and be in remote learning until Dec. 2. The building will be disinfected while students are remotely learning, according to district officials.
All extracurricular activities have been suspended until Nov. 23 for all schools under Utah Gov. Gary Herbert's emergency health order.
Contributing: Linda Williams, KSL.com
